Key Ring App

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There are plenty of opportunities to save money out there, and almost all of them are too big a pain in the ass to bother with, which is, of course, exactly why there are still plenty of opportunities to save money out there. Making saving a few bucks dangerously easy: Key Ring, now on Android & iPhone.

Tired of straining their pockets with a glut of loyalty cards, a Dallas-based app-development team came up with a handy solution: scan the suckers into your smartphone, then pull the appropriate ones back up via an easy-access interface that can be read by cashiers' lasers, a futuristically fast way to pay less for Dinty Moore. So far over 700 stores are locked in to auto-input, including Tom Thumb, Albertsen's, AutoZone, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, PETCO, Petsmart, and, most invaluably, Toys 'R Us; if a store's not in the system, you can input it manually, even if it's just a mom & pop, though that does beg the question "Why has your mother gone into business with The Natural-era Wilford Brimley". Then there's this bonus: once you've scanned a card in, you can simply pull up the store's current special offers for redemption, eliminating the need to cut coupons, and letting you save those scissors for more productive work, like stabbing smartphone-less old women who back up the line with their insistence on using paper coupons.

Key Ring's even worked out arrangements that allow you to enroll in some businesses' loyalty programs instantly upon downloading the app, including La Madeline and Mooyah Burger -- though if you get overly addicted to slightly less expensive pastries and meat pies, the pain in your ass will be gout that's worked its way up from your feet.